Design of a 60GHz integrated antenna on silicon substrate

The design is presented of virtual current loop antenna (VCLA) for use on CMOS ICs technology that promises to integrate a complete 60GHz system on single chip that combines a good performance in both bandwidth and radiation efficiency. The design was based on intensive electromagnetic simulations using HFSS software package. Different virtual loop antennas have been designed for different frequencies on silicon substrate with resistivity ranges from 10 to 20ohm-cm and simulated. The simulation results show that the antenna can achieve a radiation efficiency of 20% and a gain of 1.43dB at 60GHz. However CMOS with high f_t values require substrates with resistivity of 5-20ohm-cm. A 60GHz antenna was designed and fabricated on 5ohm-cm silicon substrate. The S-parameters were measured for antenna up to 65GHz and that the measured result agrees well with the simulated one.